Pursuing a music
career is very different from most traditional careers in that there isn’t
really a specific formula that is guaranteed to lead to a specific outcome. If you want to become a doctor or a lawyer
you figure out how to pay for your education, you go to school, you take
classes and you study. Assuming you do well enough in your classes, at the end
of your education you are, with 100% certainty a doctor or a lawyer.

The path of a
songwriter or a performing musician is very different. Sure, you can go to school to study music,
but how well you do in your career will be dependent on a very large set of
variables, many of which are out of your control. I think this uncertainty and ambiguity holds
many musicians back. If the path ahead
of you isn’t clear it’s hard to know what to do. It’s hard to know what the right action or
actions are. Sometimes this uncertainty
can paralyze musicians. With so many
different paths and potential outcomes it can be very confusing.

One of the best
pieces of advice I was given came from a producer I worked with many years
ago. He said, “Aaron, the only thing I
can tell you for sure is that if you don’t try to make it music you definitely
won’t succeed. If you try to succeed,
there’s no guarantee that you will, but if you don’t even try, you definitely
won’t”. This simple advice articulates
the dilemma of being a musician about as well as I’ve ever heard it
articulated. If you try to succeed in
the music business you might not, but if you don’t try you DEFINITELY won’t.

Since there isn’t
really one sure path that will lead to success (that I know of), I’ve come up
with a very simple formula that I practice most days to move my career
forward. It’s really very simple. The formula is to just do something, every
single day, that will potentially move my career forward. That’s it.
Just do something every day.
Maybe one day I’ll make a few submissions to music supervisors. Another day I’ll book a show at a new
venue. Another day I’ll working on
posting new youtube videos and promoting them.
It’s really not hard to find things to do to move your music career
forward. There are so many different way
to reach new fans in this day and age.
Pick something every day and do it.

So, what has this net
effect of following this strategy been so far?
Well, I’m still not a household name.
But I’m playing and performing more music than ever. I’m making more money directly from
songwriting and performing than ever. In
my humble opinion I’m playing and singing better than ever. For the first time in a long time, I’m happy
with where I am as a musician. I still
strive to go further of course. But, I
know I’m doing my best at the moment to move things forward. Will I reach all my goals? I really don’t know. I think so.
But I might not. But I know for
sure, with 100% certainty, that if I quit I definitely won’t make it.